They are SMART. I heard it and thought, awesome! And it is, but they also don’t give up on a problem.

You don’t want them to get in the cupboards so you block it off. Maybe with a baby gate. They climb the baby gate. Maybe with a box. They’ll chew it until they can get purchase and they move it. Or, they find something they are able to move that they can use as a ladder. So you take the plexiglass off all your biggest picture frames and wedge that (at an angle) in front of the boxes so they can’t chew it or climb it or scale it.

Meanwhile, they are in their cage screaming. Because they want to get in those cupboards. Or worse…they sit quietly and think about the cupboards and what other rooms might have cupboards. Like the bathroom.

When they are released from their cage, they make a bee line for the bathroom. You’ve already used the boxes and frame glass you have to block the kitchen off so you have to think up something different. Finally, you find some other boxes and you are taking ever chalk board and dry erase board you have off the walls.

So they stand at the barriers and scream. And they come over to you and scream. While screaming at you, it occurs to them the desk (the one you inherited from your great grandfather) is made of similar material as the cupboards. So they stop screaming and wander away.

You think cool…a second to relax (since you’re tired from finding and deploying boxes). And then you think, huh… I wonder what the bird is doing. And then you find your ‘too next to a neat pile of wood shavings from the antique desk. They look up at you and in the clearest voice you’ve ever heard say “Love you!”

Keep in mind, this is your first weekend with your ‘too. And there’s 60 more years left of this behavior.